Consumer Behavior

This report aims at understanding the consumer behavior of the target audience for a food product known as Jamie’s Burgers. The report provides a background to Jamie’s Burgers, analyzes the interviews with two target consumers, and compares the findings with relevant literature on consumer behavior.

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Introduction
Consumer behavior is a process that aims at studying how organizations, groups or
individuals buy, use, select and dispose goods, services and ideas in order to satisfy their
wants and their needs (Mandel et al. 2017). Consumer behavior refers to all the actions that
are undertaken by customers in the market place as well as the underlying motives that are
behind such actions (Bradford et al. 2017). This report aims at understanding the consumer
behavior of the target audience for a food product known as Jamie’s Burgers. The consumer
behavior is derived by engaging in in-depth personal interviews with two consumers of
Jamie’s Burgers, namely, Mark Spencer and Justin Dixon. The report provides a background
to Jamie’s Burgers provides an analysis of the interviews that are undertaken with the two
target consumers and compares the findings that are revealed in the course of the two
interviews, with relevant and recent academic literature on consumer behavior.
1. About Jamie’s Burgers
Jamie’s Burgers is a new but prominent burger joint in the city of Sydney in New
South Wales, Australia. Jamie’s Burgers unlike most other well known burger chains that
happen to be operational in Sydney, such as Burger King and McDonalds, specializes in the
provision of exotic meat burgers like emu burgers and kangaroo meat burgers, catering to a
very specific but large clientele in the city. The decision to offer exotic meat burgers was
taken on the part of management at Jamie’s Burgers, primarily to stand out in terms of its
food products from other competitors and take on its rivals successfully.

2CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
2. Analysis of Customer Interviews
Interview 1 – Mark Spencer
Mark Spencer decided to buy an emu burger one evening when paying a visit to
Jamie’s Burgers in Sydney.
It was limited purchase and a low involvement purchase too. Mark Spencer decided to
buy only one emu burger from Jamie’s Burgers because he has never tried out such a meat
burger before, and it was a low involvement decision since he randomly decided to make
such a purchase one summer evening last week.
What triggered the problem reflection is the fact that although excited by the idea
trying out exotic meat for the first time, Mark was not prepared for how new or novel the
taste of this meat was going to be for him. He was adventurous enough to take the decision to
try this meat burger out, but was not ready for how hard and rubbery it was going to taste in
his mouth. Albeit, Mark was rather disappointed with his emu burger, and revealed as much
in the course of his interview, that his experience has dissuaded him from trying this burger
out again in the future.
Sitting down and interviewing Mark is something that was done at Jamie’s Burgers
itself and it did not take a lot of time since the interview lasted for about twenty minutes. The
interview process did not involve spending any resources either, as Mark was paying for his
food, and it was easy to grasp his reactions to what he was eating then and there.
The evaluative criteria clearly lay in the taste of the burger rather than the look and
the feel of it. Mark made the decision to try out the emu burger because he had never tasted
exotic meat in his life, but his experience when it comes to the taste of this meat, was not

3CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
good. He did not like the taste of the emu meat which is why he stated that he is never going
to try out emu burgers ever again.
The burger was purchased on a Sunday evening, when Mark Spencer randomly
walked into Jamie’s Burgers, took a look at the menu, and placed an order for an emu burger.
The interview took place shortly after he had finished his meal and was sipping on a can of
coke. Some of the environmental factors that could have triggered the decision to try out emu
burger is the fact that there is an exotic food fad in Sydney right now, with doctors and health
experts advocating the consumption of such meat for better health, and many food producers
and distributors are cashing in on this to make exotic meats as attractive as possible to
customers.
At the post evaluative stage of the interview, what became quite clear is the fact that
the taste of the product, in this case, emu burger at Jamie’s Burgers, is what motivated the
customer to try out the burger in the first place and it is the disappointment in how the burger
tastes, that is its hard and rubbery taste that is going to keep Mark Spencer from trying it out
again as was revealed by him in the course of the interview. It was clear that the novel taste
of the exotic meat burger, the exotic meat is not something that went down well with Mark
Spencer, though the uniqueness of this meat made him want to try it out in the first place.
Interview 2 – Justin Dixon
On a Sunday afternoon, a decision was made by Justin Dixon to make a purchase of
an exotic meat burger from Jamie’s Burger. He decided to buy a kangaroo meat burger.
The decision made by Justin Dixon was a random one. He is fond of eating exotic
meat but has never tasted exotic meat in burger form. He made a limited purchase, buying

4CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
just one burger, and it was a low motivational purchase too, because he just wanted to try out
the burger and see what it tasted like.
The interview with Justin Dixon was carried out at Jamie’s Burgers itself, in the
afternoon, when he strolled in and placed an order for a kangaroo meat burger. The interview
lasted for fifteen minutes and did not require spending any resource for this purpose since it
was Justin Dixon who paid for his meal.
The kangaroo meat burger was purchased at Jamie’s Burgers and it was purchased by
Justin Dixon by placing an order for it at the counter. What influenced him to make a
purchase of this burger is the fact that he is fond of eating exotic meats, and now wanted to
try out an exotic meat burger, since he had never consumed exotic meat in the form of a
burger.
Justin Dixon also complained about the hard and rubbery taste of the burger. He has
been eating kangaroo meat regularly, but was not accustomed to such a hard and rubbery
taste, which he got when consuming a kangaroo meat burger at Jamie’s Burgers. The taste of
the burger is going to keep Justin from visiting Jamie’s Burgers again, as revealed by him
during the interview.
2.1. Key Takeaways from the Interviews
The in-depth interviews conducted with Justin Dixon and Mark Spencer reveal that
the taste and the quality of the exotic meat that is being served by Jamie’s Burgers is clearly
not up to the mark. While Mark Spencer has never tasted exotic meat before and was
unprepared for how hard and rubbery the emu burger taste, Justin Dixon has been eating
exotic meat for a long time now and he too was surprised by the hard and rubbery taste of the
food. Hence it is clear that it is not so much the exotic meat that is not going down well with

5CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
customers at Jamie’s Burgers but rather the fact that the meat that is being cooked and served
is of poor quality and is not being presented well enough.
3. Comparison of Primary Research with Relevant Literature on
Consumer Behavior
As argued by Murphy and Dweck (2016), a fixed mind set can end up influencing the
behavior of a consumer towards certain products and services. They argue that customers
seek out services and products that are in line with their own ideas about themselves, and
they are likely to opt for products and services which will boost their sense of self and
highlight their positive qualities. Zhang and Beyouncef (2016), have talked about the role that
social commerce has to play in influencing consumer behavior. They argue that social media
in particular has become highly critical for companies that are looking to influence their
customers better and which are looking to harness power of social ties better through the use
of social media. Mandel et al. (2016), have researched on how self discrepancies have an
important role to play in influencing consumer behavior. How a customer perceives himself
and how he desires to perceive himself go a long way in getting him to choose certain types
of products and services from the market.
In the case of the two interviews that were conducted with Mark Spencer and Justin
Dixon however, the above theories and arguments pertaining to consumer behavior do not
appear to hold much relevance. Neither Mark Spencer nor Justin Dixon were influenced by
social media to try out exotic meats at Jamie’s Burgers. Mark did, because he has never tasted
such meat before and Justin did so because he is fond of eating exotic meat. Neither did the
two of them eager to improve their self image by eating exotic meat. They chose to try out
the burgers because they were interested in what the taste of the meat was going to be like, its
uniqueness, its sumptuousness etc.

6CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Summary
Thus, when it comes to its target audience, what Jamie’s Burgers needs to take care
about is the taste and the quality of the burgers that it serves to its customers. It is being to
able to draw clientele for its burgers, because of the fact that these are exotic meat burgers
and also because there are many people in Australia who are fond of eating exotic meat. It is
not social media or the desire for self improvement that has been influencing the behavior of
consumers with regard to Jamie’s Burgers, but the desire to consume something tasty and
delicious, and which they do not appear to be getting when they visit Jamie’s Burgers.

7CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
References
Bradford, D., Courtemanche, C., Heutel, G., McAlvanah, P. and Ruhm, C., 2017. Time
preferences and consumer behavior. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 55(2-3), pp.119-145
Mandel, N., Rucker, D. D., Levav, J., & Galinsky, A. D. (2017). The compensatory consumer
behavior model: How self-discrepancies drive consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer
Psychology, 27(1), 133-146
Murphy, M.C. and Dweck, C.S., 2016. Mindsets shape consumer behavior. Journal of
Consumer Psychology, 26(1), pp.127-136.
Zhang, K.Z. and Benyoucef, M., 2016. Consumer behavior in social commerce: A literature
review. Decision Support Systems, 86, pp.95-108.

8CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Appendix
Interview Transcripts
Interview 1 – Mark Spencer
Me: Hi, do you visit this place often?
Mark – No, its my first time here. And you?
Me – My first time too, mind if I join you for a couple of minutes.
Mark – No problem. Whats up?
Me – Nothing much. I am wondering what to order….what’s it that you are having there?
Mark – Emu burger, and it tastes crappy
Me – Really? Why would you say that?
Mark – its rubbery, and dry, and there’s hardly any filling in it…not my type of burger
Me – But its emu meat. Is it that bad?
Mark – To be honest this is the first time I am having such meat. I wanted to try it out
because I have never had exotic meats before….and from the way this tastes, I am not
ordering this crap again..neither am I coming backn
Me – I am sorry to hear that. Yeah exotic meats aren’t for everyone…maybe order carefully
too. Thanks for your time mate
Mark – Yo
Interview 2 – Justin Dixon

9CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Me – Hey there, nice shirt mate
Justin – Thanks, bro. All good? This place is neat
Me – yeah it is. Mind if I join you for a couple of minutes? Am not with anyone
Justin – Sure mate. I just ordered a kangaroo burger. Want to try some?
Me – No mate, kangaroo not my thing. How is it though?
Justin – Umm its not too good….its quite rubbery and flat, not what I was expecting
Me – you’ve had kangaroo before?
Justin – Yeah…and it’s the real deal mate. Not like what I am tasting here
Me – Oh my, looks like you just wasted your money
Justin – Yeah I did. Not visiting again for sure. You order wisely mate
Me – Yeah….sure will. Thanks for your time